How has COVID-19 modified training and mood in professional and non-professional football players?

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has restricted freedom of movement with several countries ‘locked down’ worldwide. During this isolation period or quarantine, habits have been modified. This might have had negative effects on physiological variables but also influenced numerous emotional aspects, especially in elite athletes, which can have a negative impact on training and sleep quality, affecting their performance. METHODS: 175 Spanish professional and non-professional association football players answered an online survey about demographic and training habits, as well as two validated questionnaires to assess psychological variables (POMS and WLEIS-S). RESULTS: The results showed that the confinement period reduced the load of training (p < 0.01), and modified the sleeping behaviour (both, sleep time (p < 0.05) and quality (p < 0.001)) across soccer players. Higher emotional intelligence (EI) values were positively related to training variables and strongly correlated with the mood. Interestingly, athletes’ mood was affected differently depending on gender. CONCLUSION: We found that confinement period affects both, training load and recovery process and that mood states and EI could predict the training variables and performance of top-level football players.